what newspapers does alden global capital own

Alden is in the business of making money, not journalism. Alden Global Capital is a hedge fund based in Manhattan, New York City. But there are some clues here and there. When Alden first started buying newspapers, at the tail end of the Great Recession, the industry responded with cautious optimism. As a reporter whos covered Alden Global Capital for more than two years, people often ask me who are the investors behind the hedge fund that owns one of Americas largest newspaper chains? Some in the industry say they wouldnt be surprised if Smith and Freeman end up becoming the biggest newspaper moguls in U.S. history. It has figured out how to make a profit by driving newspapers into the ground, he says, since Alden's aim is not to make them into long-term sustainable businesses but rather maximize profits quickly to show it has made a winning investment. The pay was terrible and the work was not glamorous, but Glidden loved his job. Others pointed to Bainums financing partner, who pulled out of the deal at the 11th hour. Inside Alden Global Capital. Since they bought their first newspapers a decade ago, no one has been more mercenary or less interested in pretending to care about their publications long-term health. In the ensuing exodus, the paper lost the Metro columnist who had championed the occupants of a troubled public-housing complex, and the editor who maintained a homicide database that the police couldnt manipulate, and the photographer who had produced beautiful portraits of the states undocumented immigrants, and the investigative reporter whod helped expose the governors offshore shell companies. Feb 16, 2021 at 8:05 pm. Glidden, then a mild-mannered 30-year-old, had come to journalism later in life than most and was eager to prove himself. Its hard to imagine theyd show, anyway. For Baltimore to avoid a similar fate, Simon told me, something new would have to come alonga spiritual heir to the Sun: A newspaper is its contents and the people who make it. When a local newspaper vanishes, research shows, it tends to correspond with lower voter turnout, increased polarization, and a general erosion of civic engagement. But whats happening in Chicago is different. The men who devised this model are Randall Smith and Heath Freeman, the co-founders of Alden Global Capital. He can cite decades-old scoops and tell you whom they pissed off. Lee Enterprises, the owner of daily newspapers in Winston-Salem and Greensboro, this morning rejected a hedge fund's proposal to take over the company. The Tampa Bay Times has sold its printing plant at 1301 34th St. N to a real estate arm of Alden Global Capital, a New York hedge fund that is the second-largest newspaper owner in the country. It . Alden Global Capital revealed a proposal Monday to purchase Lee Enterprise Inc. and its newspapers at $24 a share, casting alarm through the many newsrooms owned by Lee. It's newspaper-endorsement season again, and that means it's Should newspapers do endorsements?season again. After a long walk down a windowless hallway lined with cinder-block walls, I got in an elevator, which deposited me near a modest bank of desks near the printing press. "And what we've seen in a lot of these places where newspapers have been scaled back or even closed is there really is no comparable product in place, whether it's by the government or by another news organization, to do what these local newspapers have done for hundreds of years.". Margaret Sullivan: The Constitution doesnt work without local news. Reinventing their papers could require years of false starts and fine-tuningand, most important, a delayed payday for Aldens investors. As a privately held hedge fund, Alden doesnt have to reveal much to the public. They were very tight. Freeman has resisted elaborating on his relationship with Smith, saying simply that they were family friends before going into business together. Read: What we lost when Gannett came to town. * Edited from 'independent . Hellman and BNP together own 46.4 per cent of Allfunds' shares. Its a game, Randy explains to his son. With his own money, he helps his brother launch the New York Press, a free alt-weekly in Manhattan. It seemed reasonable to ask that they answer a few questions. My question was did Knight know what Alden was doing to newspapers when it invested with the hedge fund, and does it regret that investment now? On Monday, Dail Aldens Distressed Opportunities Fund was launched in 2008 and saw astounding success in its first few months, showing returns of more than 30 percent a big rescue for Alden, whose investments in Russia the year before had lost more than 61 percent of their value. In Orlando, the Sentinel ran an editorial pleading with the community to deliver us from Alden and comparing the hedge fund to a biblical plague of locusts. In Allentown, Pennsylvania, reporters held reader forums where they tried to instill a sense of urgency about the threat Alden posed to The Morning Call. and our desire to support local newspapers over the long term." Alden said it wants to work Lee's board of . A century later, the Tribune Tower has retained its grandeur. The question was how. The California Public Employees Retirement System, a few European banks, and Citigroup and Coca Cola Companys pension funds have all invested in Alden, along with charities such as the Circle of Service Foundation and the Alfred University Endowment. Even as Aldens portfolio grew, Freeman rarely visited his newspapers. Misinformation proliferates. [2] Its managing director is Heath Freeman. By McKay Coppins. Who Profits From Alden Global Capital? Freeman was clearly aware of his reputation for ruthlessness, but he seemed to regard Aldens commitment to cost-cutting as a badge of honorthe thing that distinguished him from the saps and cowards who made up Americas previous generation of newspaper owners. Aldens calculus was simple. So far, Alden has limited its closures primarily to weekly newspapers, but Doctor argues its only a matter of time before the firm starts shutting down its dailies as well. NPR's A Martnez talks to McKay Coppins of The Atlantic about how a hedge fund, Alden Global Capital, is buying and then gutting newspapers and the implications for democracy. It is a subsidiary of Alden Global Capital, the New York City hedge fund that backed the purchase of and dramatic cost-cutting at more than 100 newspapers causing more than 1,000 lost jobs. But it turned out that Smith had so many doorsteps16 mansions in Palm Beach alone, as of a few years ago, some of them behind gatesthat the plan proved impractical. Below are highlights from his conversation with Morning Edition's A Martnez. One conclusions even these reporters are hesitant to make is that we are all dealing within a capitalist system which has none, or few, principles to guide itself, apart from making a profit, no matter how. More to the point, Tribune Publishingwhich represents a substantial portion of Aldens titleswas profitable at the time of the acquisition. When it was over, a quarter of the newsroom was gone. So I was more than a little shocked to learn that, according to its tax filings, Knight had invested $13 million with Aldens Distressed Opportunities Fund by 2010 and kept investing through 2014. Its the meanness and the elegance of the capitalist marketplace brought to newspapers, Doctor told me. . Over the course of seven years, Alden doubled profits in its Bay Area News Group newspapers, another home to cutbacks. That's because the fund is stepping in to buy and then gut newsrooms across the country. Read: Local news is dying, and Americans have no idea, From 2015 to 2017, he presided over staff reductions of 36 percent across Aldens newspapers, according to an analysis by the NewsGuild (a union that also represents employees of The Atlantic). That might sound like a losing formula, but these papers dont have to become sustainable businesses for Smith and Freeman to make money. The Tribune Tower rises above the streets of downtown Chicago in a majestic snarl of . The largest share of the blame was assigned to the Tribune board for allowing the sale to Alden to go through. Freeman never responded. hide caption. When a reporter asked if their work was still valued, the editor sounded deflated. But that's not true for all of them. A young man named Randall Duncan SmithRandy for shortstands next to his wife, Kathryn, answering quick-fire trivia questions in front of a live studio audience. She was writing about Aldens growing newspaper empire, and wanted to know what it was like to be the last news reporter in town. Morale tanked; reporters burned out. In budget meetings, according to the former executive, Freeman hectored local publishers, demanding that they produce detailed numbers off the top of their head and then humiliating them when they couldnt. Its not as if the Tribune is just withering on the vine despite the best efforts of the gardeners, Charlie Johnson, a former Metro reporter, told me after the latest round of buyouts this summer. Ken Kelleher is an American sculptor. My request for an interview with Smith was dismissed by his spokesperson before I finished asking. Hedge fund Alden Global Capital will acquire the rest of what it does not already own of Tribune Publishing, owner of the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News and other local newspapers, in a . To find the papers current headquarters one afternoon in late June, I took a cab across town to an industrial block west of the river. This company that owns us now seems to still be prettyI dont even know how to put it, the editor said, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The Atlantic. When the sale failed to attract a sufficiently high offer, Freeman turned his attention to squeezing as much cash out of the newspapers as possible. The scene was somehow even grimmer than Id imagined. The bid by Alden Global Capital, which already owns about 200 local newspapers, had faced resistance from Tribune staff and last-ditch competition. Longtime Tribune staffers had seen their share of bad corporate overlords, but this felt more calculated, more sinister. City budgets balloon, along with corruption and dysfunction. But for Simon, that paper exists entirely in the past. They are also defined by an obsessive secrecy. I felt like a terrible reporter because I couldnt get to everything.. The new owners had announced a round of buyouts, some beloved staffers were leaving, and those who remained were worried about the future. [8][24] Tribune Publishing publishes nine major metropolitan dailies. After a powerful Illinois state legislator resigned amid bribery allegations, the paper didnt have a reporter in Springfield to follow the resulting scandal. In recent months, hes been meeting with leaders of local-news start-ups across the countryThe Texas Tribune, the Daily Memphian, The City in New Yorkand collecting best practices. [2][3] By mid-2020, Alden had stakes in roughly two hundred American newspapers. In legal filings, Alden has acknowledged diverting hundreds of millions of dollars from its newspapers into risky bets on commercial real estate, a bankrupt pharmacy chain, and Greek debt bonds. For Freeman and his investors to come out ahead, they didnt need to worry about the long-term health of the assetsthey just needed to maximize profits as quickly as possible. He says he visited the Tribune's office and was "really shocked by how grim the scene was." Vallejo deserves better. A few weeks after the story came out, he was fired. The Banner will launch with about 50 journalistsnot far from the size of the Sunand an ambitious mandate. Former Knight-Ridder headquarters. They call Alden a vulture hedge fund, and I think thats honestly a misnomer, Johnson said. But by 2014, it was becoming clear to Aldens executives that Patons approach would be difficult to monetize in the short term, according to people familiar with the firms thinking. But he couldnt help feeling that the police scandal would have been exposed much sooner if the Sun were operating at full force. Year after year, the executives from Alden would order new budget cuts, and Glidden would end up with fewer co-workers and more work. But by 2013, despite deep losses to Alden funds overall values in the previous two years, Smith was able to begin buying his now infamous swath of South Florida mansions for $58 million and Freeman was acquiring multi-million-dollar New York condos. These include the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News, and The Baltimore Sun. The movement gained traction in some markets, with local politicians and celebrities expressing solidarity. But the group that jumps out to me on the list is the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Now it might be facing extinction. Hedge fund Alden Global Capital, known for making deep newsroom cuts, won approval to acquire Tribune Publishing, which includes the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun and New York Daily News. The consequences can influence national politics as well; an analysis by Politico found that Donald Trump performed best during the 2016 election in places with limited access to local news. The men killing Americas newspapers, how Slack upended the workplace, and the new meth. All good works, and Knight is to be commended for them. Knight first reported its investment in Alden in 2010, noting the fair market value of its Alden holdings was $13.4 million. . It turned out that those ownersNew York hedge funders whom Glidden took to calling the lizard peoplewere laser-focused on increasing the papers profit margins. Baltimore has always had its problems, he told me. Alden began its acquisition of Tribune Publishing in 2019, when they paid $117.9 million to Michael Ferro for his 25.2-percent stake. The model is simple: Gut the staff, sell the real estate, jack up subscription prices, and wring as much cash as possible out of the enterprise until eventually enough readers cancel their subscriptions that the paper folds, or is reduced to a desiccated husk of its former self. Alden, a New York City-based firm that has become the grim reaper of American newspapers, had recently increased its stake in Tribune Publishing to 32%making it the largest shareholder of the . During its five-year run with Alden, it seems quite unlikely that no one at Knight knew about the hedge funds slash-and-burn strategy for two reasons. People who know him described Freemanwith his shellacked curls, perma-stubble, and omnipresent smirkas the archetypal Wall Street frat boy. It emphasizes supporting the emergence of new, sustainable models for local news, through both grantmaking and research, Sherry told me, including grant programs for nonprofit news organizations. Heath Freeman, president of Alden Global Capital, is known for pushing big cost reductions, which he says help to save newspapers. Im repulsed by the incestuous world of New York journalism, he tells New York magazine. Probably not.. The newspaper lost a quarter of its staff to buyouts after it was acquired by Alden Global Capital in May. Freeman, meanwhile, would later gloat to colleagues that Bainum was never serious about buying the newspapers and just wanted to bask in the worshipful media coverage his bid generated. Its being snuffed out, quarter after quarter after quarter. We were sitting in a coffee shop in Logan Square, and he was still struggling to make sense of what had happened. . This is the story weve been telling for decades about the dying local-news industry, and its not without truth. This once-proud publication is now owned and run by Alden Global Capital, a multibillion-dollar hedge fund with a long record of buying papers on the cheap, selling off their assets and slashing pay and jobs. The editor in chief mysteriously resigned, and managers scrambled to deal with the cuts. How do you know who wins? the boy asks. That gave the journalists at the Sun a brief window to stop the sale from going through. I asked if anyone there at the time was aware of Aldens vulture business strategy. But Glidden felt sure he knew the real reason: Alden wanted him gone. At one point, he told me, the citys entire civil-service commission was abruptly fired without explanation; his sources told him something fishy was going on, but he knew hed never be able to run down the story. In 2016 (year of the most recent 990 available), the foundation invested $17 million in Alden funds. "[18], Alden received critical coverage from the editorial staff at the Denver Post, who described Alden Global Capital as "vulture capitalists" after multiple staff layoffs. If you're a reader of local newspapers particularly the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun or New York Daily News you're going to want to make sure the answer is yes. Newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises is asking its shareholders to help it fight off a hostile takeover . In addition to the constant layoffs, our buildings were being sold, basic office supplies became scarce and the hot water stopped working. Some in the city started to wonder if the paper was even worth saving. This was the core of Freemans argument. To him, its the same as oil, the publisher said. When plans for the building were announced in 1922, Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the longtime owner of the Chicago Tribune, said he wanted to erect the worlds most beautiful office building for his beloved newspaper. But even for a group of journalists, it was tough to keep the publics attention. This summer, Alden Global Capital acquired Tribune Publishing and its titles, from small community newspapers to major metro titles like its flagship, The Chicago Tribune, and The Baltimore Sun. There were sober op-eds and lamentations on Twitter and expressions of disappointment by professors of journalism. [10][19][20], The company has its origins in R.D. After weeks of back-and-forth, he agreed to a phone call, but only if parts of the conversation could be on background (which is to say, I could use the information generally but not attribute it to him). In May, The Alden Global Capital a hedge fund, acquired Tribune Publishing TPCO for $633 million. He wrote, "Alden Global Capital has eliminated the jobs of scores of reporters and editors, and decimated journalism in cities all over the country: Denver, Boston, San Jose, Trenton, etc. [11], In November 2021, Alden Global Capital made an offer to purchase Lee Enterprises for $24 a share in cash, or about $141 million. One researcher tells me that if that money were invested in the S&P 500 Index Fund, it would have earned roughly $11 million over the same period. Alden Global Capital owns 56 dailies under Digital First Media (Alden also owns 32% of Tribune 10 dailies in Column C.) Tribune Media owns 10 dailies.

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